Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The stretch run

The proverbial second half of the baseball season begins in earnest tomorrow. Before I jet off to Aruba, thought I'd offer up my unscientific predictions for the stretch run:

1) Once the Yankees and Red Sox are through battering each other, the Blue Jays will emerge as AL East champs.

2) The Astros are one solid offensive acquisition away from winning the NL Central. They nabbed Aubrey Huff from the Devil Rays today. They're not done dealing.

3) Unfortunately, it'll take more than just one starting pitcher to put the Reds into the playoffs.

4) Not going out on a limb to say the Braves' postseason run has finally come to an end. Perhaps the Yankees' as well.

5) Dusty Baker won't finish the season as Cubs manager.

6) The Dodgers win the NL Wild Card; the White Sox earn that distinction in the AL.

7) Both the NL and AL West Division titles will be decided on the season's final day.

8) The Reds will fail in their bid to snare the All-Star Game. The recently-expanded convention center still falls short of adequate capacity. And, getting city leaders on the same page to effectively promote such an effort would be futile.

9) Homer Bailey will pitch for the Reds this season.

10) The Tigers win the World Series to complete one of the great turnarounds in baseball history.

Pasa un bon dia!

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